So far the reports are that it was some non-student pissed at his girlfriend and decided to shoot the place up.

This might not be popular to say, but it's a real shame VT was a "gun-free zone." If only one of the reported 32 dead and 21 injured had been armed, this tragedy might not be as bad as it seems to be right now.

What happened to getting pissed off and just punching the wall? Schools are supposed to be safe places, not a place that gets shot up. A very tragic and sad event. Makes you hold your loved ones a little tighter tonight.

I think the hardest pill to swallow is the total shock on this one. Tech is in a great college town. You think it's a safe place for your kids to go to school. My kids are little (6,4, and 2) - sending them to Tech (even though I am now in PA) has always seemed like the best option. Shocked. I guess it could happen anywhere but it's unreal. Thanks for letting me vent. Hopefully tomorrow I can get my mind off things and watch the Tribe....

jfiling wrote:So far the reports are that it was some non-student pissed at his girlfriend and decided to shoot the place up.

This might not be popular to say, but it's a real shame VT was a "gun-free zone." If only one of the reported 32 dead and 21 injured had been armed, this tragedy might not be as bad as it seems to be right now.

I agree with you. They used to allow licensed students and faculties to carry if they registered with the school, from what I understand. The university decided to change the rules and gun rights advocates fairly recently tried to get it back to the way it was to no avail.

Apparently the administration didn't make it public knowledge after two murders occurred early in the morning. It was nearly two hours later that the gunman went on a shooting spree with two 9mm handguns.

It's a horrible tragedy that's the worst shooting in US history. My condolences and prayers go out to the families of the victims and everyone at VT - all the alums too. Beautiful campus with great people. I've always had a soft spot for Virginia Tech. The worst thing about it is that some and maybe most of the deaths could have been prevented if the administration had been overly public about earlier events and if more people on campus were capable of taking this guy out.

As a inner city high school teacher, I know that it is impossible to prevent every bad thing from taking place. The media is going to beat up the VT officials for not locking down the campus at 8 a.m. Those folks did the best they could with the information they had. It is easy to be a Monday morning quarterback..

Of all people who had something to say on this horrible act of violence, Ted Nugent was the one who got my attention the most. Mr. Nugent is a HUGE gun advocate who travels the U.S. to teach people on the topic of gun safety, mentioned that in at least 3 other violent shootings, that it was a registered gun owner in each incident who had stopped the criminal. I have a college as one of my customers and deliver goods to their dining hall, and as I walked through it, I thought to myself, how many of these students are looking over their shoulders today. I also noticed that it was Much quieter than most days. The only negative I see coming out of this, is that more people will go out and purchase guns for the sake of their own safety. Personal safety is important, but we do not need any more loose cannons on the streets or out in public.

Lead Pipe wrote:I'm for the right to bear arms. That being said, reasons the country is going to hell can be drawn to one common denominator.

We have an incredible amount of shitty parents.

Couldn't agree more. I think it has affected so much, including our moral compass.

We also have a PC society that tries so hard to not offend instead of pursuing the right course. My guess is the PC police likely didn't want to look too much into this guy who clearly had problems. They send him to a counselor and nothing else.

As for mswerb's comments, I agree that we don't need more loose cannons, but I do think we need to allow people who have EARNED concealed carry licenses to actually carry in places like universities. The more good people that are armed the more people around that can respond to things like this and possibly reduce the amount of times this happens.

Many of these nuts go off because they know they can go on a rampage unabated. If Virginia had passed that law that allowed people with concealed carry permits to carry then there's the threat that many people in the buildings this guy penetrated would be armed and trained properly. Even if he attempts it the odds are much better that someone stops him - and tragedies have been prevented in the past because of gun owners stepping up.

Most gun owners are law abiding citizens who like hunting or enjoy shooting for sport or want to protect themselves and their families. Some people abuse their weapons and most who want to do things like what happened in Blacksburg will get guns regardless of gun laws.

The best defense against loons is getting more people with concealed carry permits. Down here in Florida crime rates dropped when we adopted our concealed carry laws. Most of the statistics I've seen have shown a marked drop in crime and violence when concealed carry permits become more commonplace. We have around 400,000 concealed carry permit holders in Florida, 2.5% of the state population.

You have to get an extensive background check, get fingerprinted, and take multiple training courses from a certified trainer to get a CCW permit down here.

Keep the talk going.....just a quick message to say I am moving this to the "No Holds Barred" forum. Given the events of Monday, it was okay to leave this here for the short term, but now that the events have settled in, I'm going to move this there.

mswerb wrote:I wonder how many places are willing to lift the "gun free" zones? We often laugh at the "Weapons free" signs outside of buildings, but do the recent events change things?

They may or may not. I've chatted with some friends who are pro-gun and even they are leery about allowing guns on university campuses, although none of them knew how extensive the CCW permitting is. They felt a bit more comfortable when I explained everything that you have to go through to get a CCW permit.

There are two extremes. Some will move to further limit where licensed individuals can carry concealed weapons. Of course there's the whole anti-gun lobby too. Others will push for the allowance of concealed firearms on campuses and in public buildings.

I'm of the opinion that stringent gun laws generally only limit the rights of honest citizens and prevent them from defending themselves and others. I'm all for background checks and the licensing of concealed weapons - they're both unfortunate musts in this day and age.

Allowing concealed handguns on campuses, in buildings, etc would terrify some and calm others. I think most people would be okay with it if they knew what a CCW involved - that these CCW carriers are trained, have had background checks, etc. I also believe it would be a deterrent, though not against everyone. There will be some who will go forward even knowing that some may be armed. Others might think twice, especially if they care about inflicting the most damage possible like the VT guy seemed to. If a handful of the people attacked were armed then it's likely the casualty count would have been lower or non-existent in the second building attacked; it all depends on where the psycho goes first.

It could be very effective on college campuses where the ROTC is a big thing.